Kansas City Royals
The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team was founded as an expans ...
Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...
,
California Angels
The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team ha ...
El Camino College
El Camino College (Elco or ECC) is a two-year public community college located in the unincorporated area of Los Angeles County known as Alondra Park.UCLA and is a member of the Sigma Chi
Fraternity
A fraternity (from Latin language, Latin ''wiktionary:frater, frater'': "brother (Christian), brother"; whence, "wiktionary:brotherhood, brotherhood") or fraternal organization is an organization, society, club (organization), club or fraternal ...
. In 1979, Slaught and UCLA pitcher
Tim Leary
Timothy James Leary (born December 23, 1958) is an American former professional baseball right-handed pitcher.
Amateur career
Leary posted a 10–2 record in his senior year at Santa Monica High School, and was named to the All-California Inter ...
were named to the
College Sports Information Directors of America
College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) is an organization that focuses on professional development and support for sports information directors at all levels. It offers awards, scholarships, and grants in support of SIDs and pros ...
university all-star team. Slaught also was named an Academic All American in 1979. Slaught's 1979 batting average of .428 was a UCLA single-season record that stood until 2001.
He was a 20th-round draft pick of the
Milwaukee Brewers
The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division. The Brewers are named for t ...
in 1979, but he returned to UCLA instead of signing with them. He was selected by the Kansas City Royals in the seventh round of the next year's draft. He spent about two years in the minor leagues before debuting with the Royals in 1982.
Career
Slaught played with seven major league teams, enjoying some of his best seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Between 1990 and 1992, he platooned at catcher with the left-handed-hitting Mike LaValliere for three division-winning Pirates teams. Slaught hit between .295 and .345 in those three seasons, playing in between 77 and 87 games each season. After Slaught hit .345 in 87 games in 1992, the Pirates released LaValliere in 1993. Slaught saw action in 116 games, the third-busiest season he spent in the major leagues; he hit .300 with 10 home runs and 55 RBI with the increased playing time.
He played with Pittsburgh through 1995, split 1996 between the California Angels and Chicago White Sox, then retired after getting no hits in 20 at bats for the 1997 San Diego Padres.
In 2005, he was named hitting coach of the
Detroit Tigers
The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...
, replacing Kirk Gibson. He resigned as the Tigers hitting coach following the 2006 season and was replaced by Lloyd McClendon.
He resides in Rolling Hills, California, with wife Sandy. They have four children. He founded RightView Pro the first video analysis system for baseball and softball licensed by MLB, MLBPA, and the NPF. He is currently the owner of RVP and a partner in OnBaseU. OnBaseU.com.
Career statistics
In 1327 games over 16 seasons, Slaught posted a .283 batting average (1151-for-4063) with 415 runs, 235 doubles, 28
triples
TripleS (stylized as tripleS; Help:IPA/English, /ˈtɹɪpəl:ɛs/; ) is a South Korean girl group formed by MODHAUS. They aim to be the world's first decentralized K-pop idol group. The members will rotate between the group, sub-unit, and solo ac ...
, 77
home runs
In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...
bases on balls
A base on balls (BB), also known as a walk, occurs in baseball when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls '' balls'', and is in turn awarded first base without the possibility of being called out. The base on balls is defined in Se ...
, .338
on-base percentage
In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batter reaches base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA), as it is rarely presented as a ...
and .412
slugging percentage
In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at bats for a given player, ...
. He finished his career with a .987
fielding percentage
In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putouts and assists, div ...
. In 18 postseason playoff games, he hit .255 (13-for-51) with 5 runs, 1 home run, 7 RBI and 9 walks.